Optimal Management of Public Military Service Functions: Providing A Policy Model

Considering that a large part of society, inductees and their families, is somehow influenced by military service, its optimal management can have positive effects at the individual and macro level. One of the aspects that influence the productivity of public military service is the management of different functions of military service. The main purpose of this paper is to formulate a policy model for military service functions. The grounded theory method has been used for theorizing and providing the model. In order to collect the required data, in addition to interviewing the experts, the upstream documents and related reports were also examined and the qualitative data were analyzed during the three stages of open, central and selective coding. The research findings show that the main function of military service is defense-security, but with the increase in the level of education and competencies of draftees, the use of soldiers in economic, social, and cultural fields, not only leads to higher effectiveness of military service but also increases satisfaction of the inductees. Some new functions of public military service that are proposed to be on the agenda of policymakers are regional development, development of deprived areas, rural development, and development of small and medium enterprises. Because government cannot fully provide the services required in these areas due to financial and structural constraints. But, utilization of public military service in these new functions requires measures such as reforming laws and regulations, sensitizing, institutionalizing, formulating a strategic document for the conscription, and structural reforms.